There are two trilogies I admire: Robertson Davies's 'The Deptford Trilogy' and Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials.'
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I've been on 'Mastermind' - I tied for first place and then lost on the number of passes. My subject was the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy by Philip Pullman. If I did it again, I'd choose Shakespearian tragedies.
Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker series also shows the potential of lighter fantastic fiction. I read the first, and listened to a tape of a later one, and it's fun.
As soon as I finished the first book, I wrote a second, which I hope to sell this year, and I have just about finished the third book in the series. Two more are already outlined. I'm in this for the long haul.
I've been working through Maurice Druon's 'Accursed Kings' series. They come highly recommended from George R. R. Martin, and for good reason.
A trilogy is a pretty abstract notion. You can apply it to almost any three things.
My favorite books are actually very complicated - 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', 'Ulysses'.
My favorite literature to read is fairly dry history. I like the framework, and my imagination can do the rest.
I love the trilogy form. I like the idea that you can establish a character in book one. And then in the second part, you can take the characters down to their darkest point. And then in the third part, you have total freedom either to give them redemption - or just to kill them.
I love Richard Yates, his work, and the novel, Revolutionary Road. It's a devastating novel.
I'm an enormous fan of Thomas Bernhard's books, and I like the relentless feeling in his work - the pursuit of darkness, the negative - and I think in some sense I've internalised that as what one is supposed to do.